---

Gulf Medical Assessment Programme

Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many veterans have had a medical examination under the Gulf veterans medical assessment programme to date; and how many of these have (a) had a second medical examination or (b) been referred to specialists. [5316]

Mr. Soames [holding answer 11 December 1995]: To date, a total of 339 veterans have received an initial medical examination under my Department's Gulf medical assessment programme. Twenty-four of these veterans are still in the process of having their tests completed and evaluated. Of the remaining 315 individuals, 80 have received a second examination on the assessment programme and 158 have been referred to specialists.

19 Dec 1995 : Column: 1115

NATIONAL HERITAGE

National Lottery

Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what inquiries were made of Mr. Joseph Spinelli, former New York State Inspector General, about the due diligence meeting with the independent non-executive directors of Camelot before the award of the contract to Camelot, with particular reference to participants at the meeting; and if she will make a statement. [6685]

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley: I have no knowledge of any such meeting.

Mr. Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage when (a) officials and (b) Ministers were first informed of the use of GTec's private jet by the Director General of the National Lottery; what guidance was given to the director general, and when, on acceptable levels of hospitality; and if she will make a statement. [6334]

Mrs. Bottomley [pursuant to her reply, 18 December 1995 c.849-50]: I have today written to the Director General of the National Lottery and am placing copies of the letter in the Library of the House.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Computer Services

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will (a) place in the Library a copy of the full study report referred to in paragraph 12, (b) list the computer services referred to in paragraph 13 and (c) list the computer system faults referred to in paragraph 18 of the memorandum submitted by the Information Technology Services Agency to the Social Security Committee and published with the Committee's fifth report of Session 1994-95, the work of the Department of Social Security and its agencies (HC382). [4333]

Mr. Burt: It would not be appropriate to place a copy of the full study report in the library. The report contains information which is commercial in confidence, and also contains technical, security, and audit details, which would have potential security implications if in the public domain.

The operational accounting system functionality is a customised version of the accounting portion of the FLORIDA--Florida recipient integrated data access-- application. It is composed of the following modules:

Financial Management and Control Module
Collection Module
Distribution Module
Disbursement Module
Enforcement Module
Reporting Module
Data Exchange Module.

Maintenance and Assessment, another adaptation from modules within FLORIDA, provides the following facilities:

Client Registration
Interactive Interview

19 Dec 1995 : Column: 1116

Aging and Tracking
Case Load Management
Client Notices
Reporting
Enquiry
History Maintenance
Security Maintenance.

Three faults, relating to the incorrect issue of notifications by the child support computer system were recorded, analysed and corrected.

Fault 1: Relates to notifications which invited payment even though funds are already held through payment of a lump sum which has been allocated and de-allocated through a clerical process.
Fault 2: Relates to incorrect amounts contained within notifications because of a fault in a weekly to monthly conversion routine. Variations were always small in value.
Fault 3: Relates to requests for incorrect direct debit payments in certain circumstances following the restart of a computer program after failure in a specific area of processing.

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 27 November, Official Report, column 510, in respect of the legal dispute between EDS and Computer Associates, on which occasions his Department was able to obtain the Computer Associates products (a) Telon and (b) Eastrieve for use with the CSA computer system; what impact access to these products had on the completion of the project; and how much his Department had to pay for these products. [4692]

Mr. Burt: The Department obtained licences to run the Computer Associates products TELON and Easytrieve on the new child support computer system from 24 November 1992. The system as provided by EDS could not have been run without these products. They were obtained in sufficient time to ensure that successful delivery of the system was unaffected.

The cost of the products is commercial in confidence.

Child Support Agency

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the average amount of maintenance received by parents with dependent children claiming income support in each year since 1985 in constant prices. [4688]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: The information is not available.

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how the Child Support Agency measures travelling distance between (a) Clydebank and Greenock and (b) other places where water crossings or journeys around peninsulas are involved. [6062]

Mr. Mitchell: From April 1995, the formula used to assess liability for child support maintenance has included an allowance in recognition of the costs of travelling to work where these costs are high. The allowance is broad-brush in nature and is based upon the straight-line distance between the parents' home and their normal place of employment. The allowance is designed to be straightforward to administer and, in the vast majority of cases, will be a reasonable reflection of the additional costs involved.

19 Dec 1995 : Column: 1117

It is recognised, however, that basing the calculation on the straight-line distance may cause some inequities, especially where there are geographical obstructions between the two locations. It is with these cases specifically in mind that high travel-to-work costs may be cited as grounds for varying the formula calculation under the new departure direction scheme which is to be piloted from April next year.

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will provide a breakdown of the number of items of unlinked mail at the Child Support Agency at each month end since April 1994. [4173]

Mr. Mitchell: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Miss Ann Chant. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Ann Chant to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 18 December 1995:

I am replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State about the number of items of unlinked post at the Child Support Agency.
I am sorry that it is not possible to provide an answer to your Question in exactly the form you have asked, but I will try to address what I think is your main concern.
All items of mail received at the Agency's six Centres are promptly sorted. A letter responding to a request for information is passed immediately to the relevant section which requested the information and staff will then take the necessary action. Other items of mail will have details of the correspondence entered immediately on the appropriate file held on the computer system.
If an item of post is received which we are unable to associate with the case (ether clerical or computer based) because, for example, there is insufficient information, the Agency writes to the correspondent asking for more details. The number of such items of unactioned and unlinked mail held by the Agency's Centres at 1 December 1995 amounted to 57.
I hope this is helpful.

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will update his answer to the hon. Member for Newham, North-East (Mr. Timms) of 18 May, Official Report, column 331, concerning maintenance assessments by the Child Support Agency with reference to cases cleared since April. [4717]

Mr. Mitchell: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the chief executive of the Child Support Agency on 12 December, Official Report, columns 625-27.

Child Support Appeals

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many appeals which have been lodged with a child support appeal tribunal are currently pending; [4686]

(2) what is the average length of time between the lodging of an appeal to a child support appeal tribunal and the hearing of the appeal by the tribunal; [4684]

(3) how many appeals have been determined by a child support appeal tribunal; and in how many appeals the tribunal held that there had been no error by the child support officer. [4683]

Mr. Andrew Mitchell: At 30 November 1995, there were 4,617 appeals outstanding at the child support appeal tribunals. In the last 12 months, 4,565 appeals have been

19 Dec 1995 : Column: 1118

determined; in 1,169 cases the child support officer's decision was upheld. The average clearance time is 41 weeks.

Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been the total gross cost to public funds to date of the operation of (a) the child support appeal tribunals and (b) the child support commissioners. [4685]

Mr. Mitchell: The information requested on child support appeal tribunals is not available. However, we estimate that, excluding start-up expenditure, for the first two years of operation the child support appeal tribunals cost approximately £600,000. I am informed by my right hon. and noble Friend the Lord Chancellor that the information requested on the child support commissioners is not collected.

---